The College News
VOL. XXII, No. 19
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 1936
Copyright BRYN MAWR
COLLEGE NEWS. 1936
PRICE 10 CENTS
Vigorous Writing
In April Lantern
Receives Praise
Insufficient Attention Given to
Mechanical Structure
Of Story Plots
FRESH, VARIED VERSE
BEST PART OF ISSUE
(Especially Contributed by
Mrs. Manning)
The April Lantern in the substance
and seriousness of its prose and verse
compares very favorably with the
previous issues of the year. The edi-
torial is brief, well written, and
pointed. The book review is an intel-
ligent appreciation of the outstanding
. aucces d'e8time among this year's
novels. The criticism of the recent
Flexner lectures, while the writer
seems scarcely to have followed Mr.
Richards' argument on the origins of
language, does express very well and
with a pleasant boldness of attack an
opposing view of the significance of
words.
The long article on the recent pro-
letariat novel, which occupies more
space than any .other single piece of
writing in this Lantern, deals with a
contemporary phenomenon which cer-
v tainly deserves to be studied by the
present generation of undergraduates.
Perhaps it is only the jaundiced,"~clrp-
italist eye of the present reviewer
which finds this exposition not quite
so persuasive or convincing as it was
apparently intended to be. Should
not such an article have the effect of
�making a liberal bourgeoise, as we
^claim to be, feel some desire to read
^�he books mentioned and praised?
Unfortunately the only effect of Miss
Coplin's exposition has been to deepen
our conviction that most of these
books will never be read save by those
who are sufficiently class-conscious to
. stand in no need of conversion. Why
should books which are, as Miss Cop-
lin herself seems to indicate, meant
to be persuasive, avoid those techni-
ques which centuries of writers have
found effective toward this very end;
or, on the other hand, if this school
of writers has worked out a new
technique of persuasion, why should
she not analyze it a little further and
show how they are able to win over
those members of the skeptical intel-
ligentsia who stray, perhaps unwit-
tingly, into these annals of the poor
which are by no means short or
simple? The quotations given are not
altogether convincing, and I believe
Continued on Page Six
Directors Accept New
Science Building Plans
April '7.�Miss Park announced in
a statement to the News that pre-
nminary plans for the new science
building have been accepted. In
chapel on Thursday morning the fuller
details of these plans, will be an-
nounced to the student body.
"At the last meeting of the Board
of Directors the Buildings and
Grounds Committee presented a re-
port on plans for the new science
building which was accepted by the di-
rectors. Following this general ac-
ceptance of the report, the committee
has been authorized to proceed at once
with final plans and then with speci-
fications for the science building which
will make it possible to begin the
building this spring and complete it
for use in the autumn of 1937. The
report recommended that it be built
directly opposite Dalton Hall, where
the faculty apartment house called
Cartref now stands and will house the
departments of chemistry and geology.
The building is to be of stone and
simple in its design, but in harmony
with the other buildings. The plans
for the interior have in great part
been designed by the two departments
concerned. The cost of the building
will be about^320,000, the amount of
the campaign funds either designated
for the science building or given un-
restricted. Unfortunately this amount
does not include anything for new
scientific apparatus nor can any part
of it be reserved for a maintenance
fund."
IN MEMORIAM
I
Alice Cohen, '36, Barbara Cary, '36, Caroline C. Brown, '36
Doreen Canaday, '36
Student Finds Work
Of Alumnae Exciting
Councillors at Annual Meeting
Hears That Drive Total is
Now #919,289
Debates Are Planned
On News and Politics
International Club Will be Sponsors if
Interest is Sufficient
The International Relations Club is
planning to sponsor a Debating So-
ciety which will begin its work either
this spring or next fall, depending on
the practicability of increasing the
amount of extra-curricular activities
while May Day preparations are going
on. There has been some discussion
of such an organization during the
past two years and it is hoped that
now there will really be enough in-
terest shown to make the attempt
worthwhile.
There are many possibilities open
for the handling of debates; they
might be confined to discussions be-
tween students under the direction of
members of the faculty, or the stu-
dents might oppose the faculty. A
good deal of debating could be done
Continued on Page Five
COME FROM, 7 DISTRICTS
Vacationers Battle Northern Blizzards,
� Bask in Southern Suns of Bermuda
There was a division of opinion
among those of us who felt the need
of getting away from it all during va-
cation. Some gathered at the coldest
corner of New Hampshire and strug-
gled to keep warm by skiing vigor-
ously; others sought out hot climates
and managed to keep cool by swim-
ming in the ocean.
Mildred Bakewell, '38; Doreen Can-
aday, '36; Esther Hardenbergh, '37;
Margaret Jackson, '37; Sarah Meigs,
'39; Sara Park, '36, and Nancy Wood,
'39, being of the first school of
thought, went to New Hampshire.
They stayed at Pinkham Knotch, one
of the Appalachian Mountain huts,
and at Glen House, Gorham. Both
huts and houses advocated the simple
life, accommodated their guests in
double-decker beds, aroused them at
six o'clock in the morning and were
heated effectively, if primitively, by
smoke coming through a hole in the
middle of the floor. The visitors
skied on the ravine on Monday along
with some very expert representatives
of Harvard, Yale, Princeton and
Haverford. They say that it was ex-
citing to see a good skier, tiny in the
distance, come zigzagging down over
the Headwall, while shouts of "Head-
wall" echoed down the ravine.
On Wednesday five of them com-
bined art with their sport and per-
formed a melodrama with some of
their friends. Doreen, with loosened
hair, was the heroine and all who
took the precaution of charcoaling
the tops of their cheeks so that the
glare of the snow would not be reflect-
ed into their eyes met their just des-
serts and were branded as villains.
Fortunately the fruits of their labor
are not lost to the world, as Sara
Park's brother took a movie of the
drama. The director and producer
are visiting Bryn Mawr on May Day
and expect to show the film. On
Thursday they went on the Sher-
bourne trail, which was in bad con-
dition. Esther fell on her hand,
breaking several bones. They re-
turned to the ravine on Friday and
had a very pleasant lunch with Mrs.
Hilton and some of the girls from
Putney School, during which they
sang German songs.
A larger group went to Bermuda.
Lucille Fawcett, '37; Frances Heins,
'39; Laura Musser, '37; Lanfcdon
Schenk, '39; B. A. Stainton, and Alys
Welsh, '39, stayed in Hamilton. Mar-
garet Otis, '39; Dorothy Wilder, 37,
and Susanna Wilson, '38, stayed at
Inverorie and wrangled with Mr.
Jones on the subject of renting
bicycles. The weather, ocean and
beach were perfect and the only thing
that inconvenienced the tourists were
all the other tourists�they make it
hard to get anyone to pay any atten-
tion to you! Laura and B. A., finding
Continued on Pace Five
(Especially contributed by Doreen
Canaday, '36.)
Undergraduates as such seem to
have enough to do to justify their ex-
istence without concerning themselves
with the activities of their predeces-
sors who have become alumnae. How-
ever, having been with the Alumnae
Council which met this year in St.
Louis, I was most agreeably intro-
duced to that organization, and made
acquainted with its powers and func-
tions; and I think that it is of prime
importance that we who are at col-
lege now, and who in a short time will
be in a position to assume the respon-
sibility that alumnae-hood entails,
should know something about what
the alumnae do, and how varied and
interesting is their work, as well as
how keen they are to keep in touch
with the kaleidoscopic life at college.
Most of this information may be found
in the Alumnae Bulletin, but this pub-
lication is not so widely read by the
undergraduates as it might be.
The Council consists of seven dis-
trict councillors who are in charge
of the seven geographically divided
regions of the United States; the
President of the Alumnae Associa-
tion, Mrs. Herbert Lincoln Clark; the
Treasurer; the Chairman of the
Finance Committee and the Drive
Fund; the Chairman of the Fiftieth
Anniversary Fund, Mrs. Slade; chair-
men of the Scholarships and Loan
Fund Committee, the Academic Com-
mittee, the Committee on Health and
Physical Education and the Nominat-
ing Committee; one representative
each from the senior class, the last
graduated class, the graduate school,
the faculty and Board of Directors.
The place for the meeting is chosen
for its availability to Bryn Mawr and
Continued on Page Four
New Undergrad Head
Will be Inaugurated
According to the customary pro-
cedure, Miss Esther Hardenbergh,
'37, president-elect of the Undergrad-
uate Association, will be inaugurated
during the last part of April. At
this time, she is to assume all of the
duties attached to her position. This
will lighten the full schedule of Miss
Eleanor Fabyan, the present head,
who is also chairman of the under-
graduate committee on May Day. The
latter will, however, retain this office
and no new arrangements will be
made in this connection.
The elections of Self-Government
and Undergraduate Assocmtion pres-
idents have been held earlier than
usual this year, in order to give sen-
iors more free time before examina-
tions.
In an effort to review the events
of the past year and to offer possible
suggestions to the new administra-
tion, the old and the new councils will
hold a joint meeting at the final ses-
sion of the year.
College Calendar
Wednesday, April 8�The Un-
dergraduate Association film
showing, The Rise of the Ameri-
can Film, 1908-1918. Goodhart,
8 p. m.
Philosophy Club Meeting�Dr.
Weiss will speak on Art and
Aesthetics. Common Room, 8
p. m.
Thursday, April 9�Miss Park
will speak in chapel on The
New Science Building, Good-
hart, 8.45 a. m.
Competition for Medal
Offered to Students
French Pros? and Verse Passages to be
Read in Common Room
April 7.�The competition for the
French Medal offered by the Comite
France-Amerique will be held in the
Common Room, Thursday, May 14,
at 4 o'clock. As previously published
in the College News, it will consist in
the reading of passages, assigned in
advance and of sight passages of
French Prose and Verse. The com-
petition is open to undergraduates
and to graduate students who re-
ceived their A. B. degrees in 1935.
Hors de concours are any students
who have spent two or more consecu-
tive years in France. The judges of
the competition will be announced
later.
The French Department will con-
duct a trial competition on Monday
evening, April 20, in the drawing
room of Radnor Hall. Lists will be
posted outside the Office of the Dean
of the Graduate School (Library,
first floor). Candidates are asked to
sign for ten minute periods on or be-
fore April 18. For the trial competi-
tion, only sight passages will be used.
The competitors for May 14 will be
announced on April 21 together with
the assigned passages.
Memory Can Retain
I J�Moue But Loses
Similar Elements
Dr. Kohler Cites New Theory
As Result of Experiments
With Students
Evening Sandwich Sales
Raise Money for Camp
(Contributed by the Bryn Mam-
League.)
"Buy a sandwich?" How many
times has the question greeted you on
the Lib steps, around the campus, in
the halls? You have little doubt as
to the good the sandwich does you,
but do you know the vast good the
dime with which you purchase it does?
The sale of sandwiches is the most
active means of raising money for the
Bryn Mawr Camp at Avalon, New
Jersey. The dimes which you spend
for sandwiches, for square dances, for
informal plays, such as The Faculty
Rehearses for Cymbeline, for any
other lucrative activity sponsored by
the League, and for pledges, are used
to give a vacation at the shore to chil-
dren from the poorer districts of
Philadelphia. The pleasure you get
from these activities cannot be com-
pared with the joy given the children
in their two weeks' vacation. For
some of these thin, pale-faced chil-
dren boarding the train for Avalon
even the train ride is a new experi-
ence. For some, the kind of food is
new. Most of them are amazed by
their first sight of the oe��h, but
-whether %ey encounter these as new
experiences or not they have an un-
forgettable vacation. From contacts
Continued on Page Three
MEMORY TRACES SHOW
LINK WITH PHYSIOLOGY
Music Room, March 25.�The most
recent of psychological hypotheses
concerning the problems of memory
were set forth in a lecture this eve-
ning bv Dr. Wolfgang Kohler, of
S\.a.thnv.)ie College. "In all science,"
said Dr. Kohler, "there is a tendency,
if one theory is disproved, to swing
to an entirely opposite point of view."
When the dependence of psychology
upon physiological concepts was shak-
en, all connection with physiology
was hastily dropped. When learning
and memory could no longer be used
to explain all sorts of phenomena,
they were at once regarded with sus-
picion; psychologists handled them
only with care. Yet it is possible that
all physiological data is not mislead-
ing, and that memory yet presents
a fruitful field for investigation.
Professor Ebbinghaus, a German
psychologist, discovered in 1890 that
it was feasible to investigate memory
experimentally on a basis of associa-
tion by contiguity. Since he wished to
observe the original building up of
associations, he could not experiment
with objects already known to the
men he was examining. Instead, he
concocted a series of nonsense sylla-
bles which he gave in numbers of
fifty or sixty to his subjects to learn
by heart. The process of learning
was remarkably slow; the events' of
one day could be told the next by his
subjects without difficulty, but the
nonsense syllables could not be re-
peated until after many presentations
of them. Thus Professor Ebbinghaus'
theory seemed to fail, yet actually it
is not all invalid. By the methods of
investigation which he chose and by
his emphasis on contiguity, he was
destroying the real forces of associa-
tion, but his fault did not disprove
association itself.
By a different sort of experiment,
Dr. Kohler discovered Professor Eb-
binhaus' trouble. Writing down in a
column a series consisting of a word,
three numbers of two places, a non-
Continued on Page Four
Three Political Bodies
Flourishing on Campus
Two of the three recently organized
campus political or semi-political or-
ganizations have already gained sub-
stantial membership lists, and al-
though no word has been obtained re-
cently from the campus chapter of the
Liberty League, current conversation
at the College Inn and in the halls
indicates that this body also has been
attracting student attention.
Naomi Coplin, '38, secretary of the
Bryn Mawr College Chapter of the
American Student Union, announced
that the organization now includes
thirty-three members, both under-
graduate and graduate, on this
campus. Their activity at present
consists of the perfecting of plans to
cooperate with the International Re-
lations Club in the forthcoming peace
demonstration in Philadelphia.
The Home Fire Division of the Vet-
erans of Future Wars, announced
through the post commander, Eileen
Sigler, '37, that although the drive
for membership has just begun to get
under way, thirty Bryn Mawr stu-
dents have already received their
cards of membership. In a bulletin
which Miss Sigler received early this
week, the National Headquarters of
the organization announced that the
number of posts throughout the coun-
try had reached 200 by April 3, and
that they were increasing at the rate
of from ten to twenty a day. A lobby
is being formed in Washington, and a
March of Time newsreel and a debate
with the Veterans of Foreign Wars
are being arranged by the executive
officers of the national organization.